3/15: Wake Up Jose!

[Al Lutz]

The Tiki Room returns, a Buzz & Pavilion update, more rehab & paint photos, plus I get to rant a little in "It's All About M.E." Five whole update pages to discuss here today.

[Gemini Cricket]

I don't see the corresponding article on Miceage.com...
???

Edited to add:
A ha, I see it now. Wake up, GC!

http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al031505a.htm

[Gemini Cricket]

Thanks MiceAge for taking the time to talk about the Tiki rehab even with the whole Iger than going on.

Nice photos. Can't wait to see it in person.

[Dustysage]

I don't see the corresponding article on Miceage.com...
???

Edited to add:
A ha, I see it now. Wake up, GC!
http://www.miceage.com/allutz/al031505a.htm

Al has to post the thread first so he has something to link to in his update.

And a wonderful update it is too. No one is as wicked a bitch as our very own Al.

Tiki Juice Bar operating hours is a pet peeve of mine too. The Tiki Room was packed all day on Sunday and I twice passed the Juice Bar when it was closed. It doesn't make sense.

Although I disagree about the lights at Plaza Pavillion. I thought that they looked great. It opens and brightens up that whole corner of the hub.

Thanks for another great update full of photos Mr. Al !

-The Dusty Sage

[shurley]

SHOW

[WRDup]

I was at Disneyland this past Saturday and avoided going on Buzz for the first time beacuse the line was (get this) too long. I also noticed the new sring of lights haging over the Plaza Pavillion. My reception to this addition was a bit more inviting than Als. I liked it. I thought it spruced the place up a little. Made it more lively. Sure its not the classiest thing ever done, but I feel the new lights and piano local bring life to an area that should be filled will guests and now can be.
I was wondering about the Dole Stand? I usually only go to Disneyland at night (after work) and now I know why I can never get a Pineapple drink... its never open when I go. ;0(

[dsnylndmom]

What a great update!!

The Tiki room looks gorgeous

Thanks for the uopdate

[MinionLumbo]

ahhhhh. thanks for the delicious update.

so there in no hope of the kitchen serving up pasta on one side and terriyaki chicken on the other? what a shame.

that beautiful complex and they will serve only cookies and lemonade? :confused:

well, at least it looks beautiful and festive.

note to TDA: please open up the restaurant to offer a new menu of hot lunch/dinner entrees. please.

[Mara]

The Tiki Room returns, a Buzz & Pavilion update, more rehab & paint photos, plus I get to rant a little in "It's All About M.E." Five whole update pages to discuss here today.

I headed down Saturday to try out Buzz and to get a long overdue fix of Tiki room. We were there during the day and the Dole whip was flowing.

Is the Dole float new or did I just not pay attention before? (It was great BTW)

We got on Buzz four times and I'm glad to say that they have successfully created a ride that you can ride over and over with out getting tired of.

I managed to get my score up to 340,000 on the last time after figuring out which of the targets are worth the BIG points and concentrating on those.

I have to say that with the way the park is starting to shape up with the refurbishments and the rides opening (and reopening), that I'm not really begrudging the hefty price increase I paid for my annual passes that I just renewed.

[grantmaier687]

Sub Lagoon info?

well, since matt ouimet can't, can anyone tell me whats going on with the subs as of this week? :confused:

[BigDaddyKyle]

Awesome! thanx for the always great update on DL!

[Arilvdc]

I work in DL foods, more specifically at the tiki juice bar. One main reason the juice bar is only open until 5 is the simple fact that we have to make all of that juice and dole whip and cart it over main street to the juice bar. Of course, people don't get out of your way.... Plus, we also work at the Main Street Fruit Cart, and the Little Red Wagon, and they refuse to hire/train new cast members. Yesterday, I was scheduled at tiki, but i was at another location because we had no one there, and it passed the noon mark...and i wasn't at tiki. Also we have one lead for all three of those locations, and we need the lead to help us close, so if tiki closed later it would be harder for the lead to get away, as the other locations are ususally busier later.
Even though tiki is bigger, we still only have one juice machine, and one soft serve machine, plus TWO sides to serve and one cashier. When there's only one person in there, it is really difficult to serve. Guests get angry, all of the time.
I think one of the reasons we close at 5 is perhaps for safety resaons. We don't have lights, and our line has this horrible tendancy to block the way into adventureland. Little kids get knocked down, disney gets sued... The park attendance ususally picks up around 6 anyway.
I'm kinda glad it's only open those hours- it takes an hour and a half to set and to close, and no one (maybe three people??) buys anything really early or really late, so it's nice to work a semblance of a normal day.
Oh and if your dole whip looks a little weird, or not how you remember it, please be patient. Only one of us is trained over there- we're all learning.

[desertdweller]

I am so pleased they finally refurbished the Tiki Room. Thanks, Al for the update and all the before/after pics! I believe you were instrumental in getting it done with all those photos of the rotting roof you posted during the past several years.

Following years of neglect I was afraid it was so forgotten that it would vanish someday. As the attention spans of people got shorter it seemed that the attraction's glory days were over. Reports of guests walking out during the performance also made me sad.

I was there when the attraction opened and remember what a technical marvel it was considered to be. There was also a photo of Walt with his beloved birds in a National Geographic article on DL in the early '60s. With its makeover perhaps guests will have a renewed appreciation for this DL Classic Attraction.

What they are doing with the juice bar is nonsense. Does Dole know how they are operating that?

[Tiny Mermaid]

Thanks so much for the pictures, Al. Particularly, the before and after shots were amazing, and really drove the point home how necessary a Tiki refurbishment was.

Arilvdc brings up an interesting point about lines for the juice bar getting in the way of passing Adventureland foot traffic. You'd think that if there were plans to keep the juice bar operating a decent amount of hours in the day, a plan for adjusting line traffic would have been included in the refurbishment. One thing Disney has become great at is queue management.

[Big Bad Leroy Brown]

Suh-weeeeet. I cannot wait to get down there again to check out the refurbished Tiki Room. Great update, Al...well worth the wait.

While the explanation from the Tiki worker above makes a little sense as to the reduced hours, it still doesn't really explain why the Juice Bar works the way it does. And surely if it's a matter of not selling enough product at night than in the day, there must be a way to stock a reduced amount of juice/whip and still provide the good show?

What I really don't understand is that if there aren't that many sales at night then why would lines blocking the Adventureland entrance be a problem? Hmmm....

[desertdweller]

I think one of the reasons we close at 5 is perhaps for safety resaons. We don't have lights, and our line has this horrible tendancy to block the way into adventureland.

Thanks for the post, Arilvdc. Perhaps the operating hours aren't as nonsensical as I thought.

[jsmith157]

The Tiki Room returns, a Buzz & Pavilion update, more rehab & paint photos, plus I get to rant a little in "It's All About M.E." Five whole update pages to discuss here today.

That's a great joke. "It's all about M.E. (me)" I'm still clearing milk out of my sinuses after reading that. Thanks for starting my day off so well. Excellent work as usual. :lol:

[Arilvdc]

And surely if it's a matter of not selling enough product at night than in the day, there must be a way to stock a reduced amount of juice/whip and still provide the good show?

What I really don't understand is that if there aren't that many sales at night then why would lines blocking the Adventureland entrance be a problem? Hmmm....

I meant late at night, like when we're at the fruit cart and sales are around twenty dollars an hour, and it's freezing cold. There comes a point where you should just close up and go home...

[Small Panda After All]

The juice bar hours do bug me a little despite some great explanations. It just seems that they didn't plan well enough ahead. I thought it was ridiculous that they kept the one register format even though they made the bar bigger. Arilvdc makes good points, that they only have one juice container, one soft serve machine and one register, but why do they only have one each of these. It seems that in expectation of big crowds for the reopening (immediately) and the 50th (long term), they would have thought ahead and made it easier for them to remain open. I don't know, maybe they'll go by the Tiki Room at five one day and see the line of customers they're turning away and rethink giving the Juice bar people more staffing and resources.

Oh well, I got my Dole whip float and it made me happy. I'm glad for this update because I never would have known about the potential problem of the juice bar hours. It seems that, as always happens when things open or reopen, there are still a few kinks to work out.

C'est la vie.

[disneyking]

As always, I'm putting in my vote for 'Al for President'
Appreciate all the work you do for us every week. Being from Utah, I live to read every update on my home away from home. So, thanks Al, and all ya'll MiceAgers for doing the work that sooo many of us enjoy!

And of course that thanks goes out for all the MiceChatters for giving me a place to thank all the MiceAgers